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THE BRITISH INSTITU LION.— ANCIENT MASTERS. THE chief honours of this year's exhibition belong to Velasquez. There are comparatively few of his pictures in England, and seldom has a better opportunity been given to the public of judging of the great Spaniard's works than now by Mr. Huth. There is Philip IV. of Spain, with his heavy lower jaw, stern and self-willed, but yet not ill-natured in aspect ; his Queen, a comely Bourbon, with fair fresh face and bright eyes ; and lastly, Philip's Prime Minister, the Duke of Olivarez, with a, face of more sagacity than beauty under his brown wig (for wig it must be). The force of individual character expressed without apparent effort in each of these portraits is amazing, and the two first named possess in perfection, as in a less degree the third does also, the un- conscious aspect so hard. to get in portrait-painting, but which is essential in order that the spectator may have his thoughts directed to the person represented more than to the means used in painting the picture. The colour of all three, it is scarcely necessary to add, is rich and harmonious, and has that specially solemn depth which distinguishes Velasquez from other great colourists. Philip IV. on horseback (1) is also remarkable for its gorgeous colour, though scarcely equal in most respects to Mr. Huth's trio, the like of which probably no gallery in England could show, unless it were the Bankes collection at Kingston Lacy. It is to a member of that family that the institution owes the temporary possessfon of the picture called " Las Meninas" (111), whose pedigree and history have been so much discussed by its owner, Mr. H. J. Bankes, and the Times. This picture seems to be the most popu- lar of the artist's works in the gallery, but considering the micros- copic distance generally chosen for looking at it its popularity seems due more to curiosity regarding the method of execution and amaze- ment at its boldness than to admiration of the effect produced. The effect, however, is, after all, the true marvel, and can be properly seen only from the opposite side of the room. In a sketch like this, minute expreaeion of feature cannot of course be expected; but there is no want of it in attitude, from the little infanta down to the dog ; and so true and unexaggerated is the colour, that the consideration of paint never intrudes itself. It is only by comparison with its companions (notable pictures, too) that one is led to this consideration, and to appreciate its superiority in this respect even to such a masterpiece as Rembrandt's "Mill" (112). Of this "Mill" more presently. Going on now with the portraits (for there is nothing in, them, as in their modern successors, that makes one desire to put off looking at them as long as possible), some astonishment may be permitted at seeing the name of Holbein at- tached not only to the calm grave face of good " Sir T. More" (19) but to the potato-faced figure called " Henry VIII." (39) ; and at finding the latter in a good place, while the former, which seems a really good picture, is put away in the upper story. There are some exceedingly good Vandykes,—" Strafford" (31), self-contained and imperious, but with less of the vehemence, which we connect with the Irish Viceroy than in the Warwick portrait ; the well-known triple portrait of his master, " Charles I." (77) ; and, better than either, the portrait of " Endymion Porter" (49), who if a less interesting character has got it more completely expressed than either the King or the Earl. There is admirable simplicity, accompanied by thoroughly good workmanship, in Cuyp's "Portrait of a Lady" (40) ; while the less familiar name of Plink is to a largely designed and richly painted portrait of a man in a black dress with white lace collar. Guido's " Cardinal Ubaldini " (18) is good evidence of what he might have done as a portrait-painter, noble
in bearing and pleasing in colour ; but yet lacking the indescrib- able quality which genius of the first order can alone impart, and which makes Titian's thoughtful, though somewhat sly head of ‘. Father Paul" (85) one of the most attractive pictures in the exhibition. The portrait of a half-proud, half-melancholy young Milanese, by that rarest of masters L. da Vinci, completes in inverse chronological order the list of most noticeable pictures in this class. The colour is almost gone, but the features are model- led with delicacy and decision.
The -show of sacred subjects is unusually small, but ex- tends over a long enough period to illustrate some great changes in art. For instance, there is little in common between Luini's " Baptism " (21) and L. Caracci's "St. Francis " (86), and few people nowadays bat will prefer the intense expression of the Milanese in spite of his bad drawing to the academic insipidity of the Eclectic," though one must admire his good drawing of hands and feet, and his masterly arrangement of drapery. Correggio is intermediate between these two. A master of colour, of form, and of light and shade (which cannot be said of the first), he yet had a higher purpose in art than the mere exhibition of his skill, like the second, and used this chiefly to enhance the impression of his subject. Compare the vigorous and expressive action of the angel in his "Agony" (37) with the curious creature seated on a cloud and playing the fiddle in Caracei's picture. In the one case the whole picture is full of fire and action, the other meaningless and dead. " Jacob's Dream" (55), by S. Rosa, is one of the worst of his landscapes, in which it seems no miracle at all that a ladder should lean against that red wall of sky patched with leaden paint. However, his angels are preferable to Caracci's young musical dilettante. Caravaggio might perhaps have done well if he had aimed only at subjects within his reach. His taste was for the rough and ready uninspired mortal of every-day life. But to paint these with their natural expressions and call his picture " Christ at Emmaus'' (79) is intolerable. Murillo has shown what may be done with similar materials if used without affectation. His picture of "Spanish Girls Looking from a Window" (56) is one of the gems of the gallery. There is nothing shocking in the over-confident gaze of these damsels—they are rustics and behave themselves as such, but it would not do to call either of them St. Cecilia or St. Catherine. A beautifully coloured Teniers, with more agreeable subject than usual (17), and " A Man Reading" (91), by Rembrandt—the man very intent on his book, and the surround- ings admirably managed—must on no account be overlooked.
Rembranit's "Mill" (however one may be inclined to think it surpaesed by other pictures in one or two particulars) will always remain one of the world's wonders. Though the subject be but a windmill, the most familiar of objects, no landscape ever exceeded it in dignity ; and, much as it must have become darkened and em- browned, none ever glowed with livelier light. It is very instruc- tive to compare it with the late Mr. Ward's imitation of it. The imitation must be pronounced a failure. It has little of the light and none of the dignity of the original. The first is quenched by the inharmonious colouring of the sky, in which the imitator in giving us brown clouds and blue sky has overlooked the fact that Rembrandt's clouds have become brown (yet not so brown as his) from the same cause that has given the sky a greenish hue, viz., the yellowing of the vehicle ; and the dignity is destroyed by breaking up the sweeping lines of the mill into fragments ; and, instead of the massive square mound on which it stands in the original, by tilting up the line as it approaches the centre of the picture so as to form an acute angle with the vertical edge which descends into the water. The composition has thus a perked up and ignoble appearance. There is a good collection of Ruysdael's landscapes. All have a largeness and grandeur which is vainly sought in Hobbema ; but seldom is there seen so good a specimen as the Lansdowne " Sea- piece " (101). The spaciousness of the air is immense, and the white glare of the surf as it races beneath the towering clouds that crowd up from the horizon looks full of danger. An English artist has painted a worthy companion to this noble work. If the name of Crome were unknown, it would be said that " On the Coast near Yarmouth " (172) was a Turner. Very like Turner is the mystery of the old hull which looms so large in the middle distance, and the lively motion of the smack that drives before the wind. A single gleam of sunshine strikes on a fishing village that nestles under the sandy cliff, and gives a gloomier intensity to the huge clouds that sweep across the bay. One fault (perhaps the only fault) is observable in both pictures. The sea wants transparency. Of three other landscapes by Crome one is a masterly sketch on a large scale of some Welsh mountains (180), another an oak wood, such as till lately was supposed to be
his special subject (147), and a third on the screen; of old houses and fishing boats, remarkable for its delicate and well preserved colour (132). There is also some subtle distinction of grays in the " Interior of a Church " (103), by De Witt ; though the picture is a little cold in general effect: and a bit of river scenery with wide space of cloudy sky by Calcott in his best manner (154), a manner which he did little good to forsake for such a purpose as to paint his unintellectual Raphael and mock-rustic Fornarina (146). Canaletto covers a large space on the walls. His pictures are like so much tasteless dough, added lest the appetite should:be too much cloyed by uninterrupted plums.
Among English portraits there is none of unusual- character. Reynolds and Gainsborough always satisfy the taste, and frequently do more. The consummate grace of Sir Joshua's portrait of Mrs. Collyer (148) requires, however, a special remark ; and so do the arch, delight of the boy who has dressed up his little sister in all kinds of finery and put a nosegay in each hand, and the pleased look of self-importance in the little girl's twinkling eye (177).
V.
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